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AN ADDRESS 



TO THE 



QUARTERLY, MONTHLY AND PREPARATIVE MEETINGS, 
AND THE MEMBERS THEREOF, 



COMPOSING THE 



YEARLY MEETING OF FRIENDS, 



HELD IN PHILADELPHIA, 



By the Committee appointed at the late Yearly Meeting 
to have charge of the 



SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PRINTED BY JOHN RICHARDS, 

No. 130 North Third Street. 
1839. 






t:' ^ .A n 






Minutes of the Yearly Meeting of Men and Wo- 
men Friends, appointing the Committee to 
have charge of the subject of Slavery. 

Seventeenth of the 5th mo. 1839. 
" A concern being spread before this meeting on 
subjects connected with the welfare of the people 
of colour, both bond and free; and it being be- 
lieved that an advantage would arise not only to 
that deeply injured people, but also to those who 
hold them in bondage, as well as to the support of 
our christian testimony against Slavery, from the 
appointment of a Committee to take charge of the 
subject generally; upon consideration, a Commit- 
tee of four Friends from each Quarterly Meeting 
was appointed, to unite with women Friends in at- 
tending to the concern as way may open, and to 
report to our next Yearly Meeting." 

Extracted from the Minutes, 

Benjamin Price, Jr. Clerk. 

"By a deputation from the men's meeting, we 
are informed that the deeply interesting subject of 



Slavery, in its various aspects, has claimed its atten- 
tion, and that the exercise produced thereby has re- 
sulted in a belief that it will conduce to the benefit 
of our Society, and the advancement of its testimony 
in this respect, to appoint a Committee to have charge 
of this concern the ensuing year; much unity has 
been expressed with it in this meeting, and a Com- 
mittee was appointed to unite with our brethren 
therein.'' 

Extracted from the Minutes of the Yearly Meet- 
ing of women Friends, 

Deborah F. Wharton, Clerk. 



ADDRESS. 



Dear Friends, 

In accordance with the object of our appoint- 
ment, we feel engaged affectionately to address you. 
In referring to the history of our Religious Society, 
from its rise to the present day, abundant evidence 
is given that it was called to maintain christian testi- 
monies, which are eminently designed to exalt the 
standard of truth and righteousness, and to promote 
the present and everlasting welfare of the human 
family. Yet, on the very threshold of this subject, 
we are arrested with a fact, calculated to clothe us 
with an humbling evidence of human weakness, 
and to inculcate a lesson of charity. Many of our 
forefathers were slave-holders, and the unrighteous 
])ractice of holding our fellow-creatures in bondage, 
was not then forbidden by our discipline. 

In process of time, individuals were raised up in 
the Society, who saw with clearness the injustice 
1* 



and cruelty of this practice, and endeavoured to 
convince their brethren. Among these we find 
Anthony Benezet and John Woolman. The calm 
and cogent reasoning of the latter, as manifested in 
his appeal to slave-holders, must have exerted a 
powerful influence. He addressed his " Considera- 
tions" to the understanding and inward sense of 
right, aiming to reach the judgment and awaken the 
conscience, being clothed in an eminent degree with 
the benign and peaceable spirit of his Divine Mas- 
ter. After years of patient and faithful exercise, 
the efforts of himself and his co-labourers were sig- 
nally blessed; the scales fell from the eyes of their 
fellow members, and the Religious Society of Friends 
cleared itself from the enormous evil of holding 
their fellow-creatures in unconditional bondage. 

Having liberated their own slaves, they felt re- 
ligiously concerned to labour with others, and the 
voice of the Society was repeatedly heard on behalf 
of the oppressed, in the state legislatures, and in the 
Congress of the United States. The public and 
private labours of some members, at this period, 
were very arduous, and they devoted much time in 
pleading the cause of the slave. Purity, integrity, 
and christian meekness, adorned, to a great extent, 
the lives of these early advocates of human rights. 
The long known and established principles of peace 
which marked the Society of Friends as a body, 



placed them in a position peculiarly calculated to 
gain the attention and confidence of slave-holders. 
Added to this, their honesty of purpose, and, in 
pursuance of this object, their exemption from po- 
litical plans and personal aggrandizement, were un- 
doubted; and their faithful efforts had an important 
influence over the minds of many oppressors. 

For some years, this interesting subject has taken 
a deeper hold of many friends of humanity, who are 
not associated with us in religious fellowship. It 
has risen like a stream that at first reached only to 
the ankles, but is now become as a mighty river, 
apparently resistless in its course. Not only within 
our own land, but from Isles and Nations afar 
ofif, the responsive voice of Philanthropy is borne 
as on the wings of the wind, enforcing the prac- 
tical injunction of our blessed Lord, " Whatsoever 
ye would that men should do to you, do ye even 
so to them." 

The advancement of this righteous concern, and 
the increase of light upon the subject of hum.an 
rights, are causing this system of iniquity to totter 
to its base. Hence, under the influence of fearful 
excitement, many are putting forth their strength 
to impede the progress of principles, which, if ul- 
timately triumphant, will break the fetters of the 
slave. A part of the trading interests at the North 



8 

is evidently involved with those of the South, and 
an influence is in this way exerted against the on- 
ward course of Emancipation; thus light and dark- 
ness antagonize each other. 

While all around us exhibits awful collisions, and 
the inflamed and angry passions of men, are com- 
parable to the troubled sea casting up mire and dirt, 
we, as a body of christians, are imperiously called 
upon, to seek and rely upon that Almighty Power 
which can alone " control the whirlwind and direct 
the storm." The mantle which covered our fore- 
fathers in their labours in the cause of human rights, 
we humbly hope has fallen on us. Let us then 
stand at the mouth of the cave, as the warring ele- 
ments are passing before us, let us wrap the face 
in the mantle, waiting to hear that still small voice, 
which speaks from heaven. 

That conflicting opinions, as to the course proper 
to be pursued, do now exist in our Society, is ob- 
vious. But if we, as a people, dwell near the foun- 
tain of Divine Goodness, we shall be equally pre- 
served from apathy and negligence on the one hand, 
as from intemperate zeal and creaturely activity on 
the other; so that in the peaceable spirit and wis- 
dom of Jesus, all may join in harmonious labour, as 
with the heart of one man. 



Within a few years, great events have occurred in 
relation to Slavery, and much light has been spread 
on the subject. The experience derived from Eman- 
cipation in the British West Indies, has opened a 
new era. In the midst of violent opposition, the 
great truth has been successfully realized, that libe- 
rated slaves may with safety immediately become 
freemen; and that the actual interests of their for- 
mer masters, as well as their own, may be greatly 
promoted by the change. 

On this point as well as others, it is thought much 
benefit would result from spreading correct informa- 
tion among all our members; fully believing that 
as Friends are apprized of well authenticated facts, 
connected with this deeply affecting question as it 
now stands, that their interest and zeal will also in- 
crease in the promotion of our righteous testimony 
against Slavery; and as we reverently seek for Di- 
vine direction under an humbling sense of our own 
weakness, we shall be brought near to each other 
in the unity of the Spirit, which is the bond of 
peace. 

Although we would avoid entering far into par- 
ticular views, yet there is one portion of our south- 
ern brethren on whose account our sympathetic 
feelings are called forth. While we have painful 
evidence that a great body of slave-holders are in- 



10 

fluenced by injustice and cruelty, while they stiff- 
en their necks, and harden their hearts, against all 
entreaties on behalf of their oppressed slaves, we 
believe this is far from being the case with all who 
hold their fellow-creatures in bondage. There are 
many w^hose consciences are burdened by a system 
which they derived from their ancestors, who find 
themselves surrounded by iniquitous and restraining 
laws against Emancipation. A swift witness in the 
soul assures them that their obedience in this in- 
stance to the laws of man, is a fearful violation of 
the law of God. These feel the want of kind and 
judicious advisers to aid in extricating them from 
their tried situation. 

Self-interest might prompt them speedily to free 
themselves from difficulty; the money of the slave- 
trader is temptingly held up before them; but hu- 
manity shudders at the thought: they cannot sepa- 
rate the tender ties of family connexion among 
their slaves; they dare not receive the price of 
blood. They look on the right hand and there is 
none to help, on the left, and there is none to up- 
hold. We believe they are fervently desiring the 
deliverance of master and slave, from the bondage 
to which both are subjected. Their hearts have 
bounded with joy at the success of Emancipation in 
the British West Indies; it has opened a door of 
hope that they also may be legally permitted to 



11 

prove the advantage of requited labour, over that 
which is extorted by the lash of the oppressor. 

As the secret exercises and prayers of these as- 
cend before the Lord of Sabaoth, whose ear is open 
to their cry, and as they are faithful to the convic- 
tions of duty, they will become as a city set on an 
hill; their example will aid in dispelling the cloud 
of thick darkness which now envelopes so many in 
their various neighbourhoods. 

Thus, dear brethren and sisters, we have entered 
on the duties assigned us by our late Yearly Meet- 
ing. We trust we are aware of the responsibility 
involved in our appointment, and are sensible of our 
own weakness and insufficiency for the work before 
us. But this work is the Lord's, and as we conse- 
crate ourselves to his service, attentively watching 
the pointings of duty, and moving under the banner 
of the Prince of Peace, we may hope that a blessing 
will attend our labours. 

Believing an advantage will arise in reviving the 
exercise which prevailed in our Yearly Meeting in 
1837, we subjoin the report which was read and 
united with, and sent down in the Extracts of that 
year, viz: 

" The Committee appointed by the Yearly Meet- 



12 

ing to take into consideration the subject of Slavery, 
brought up from last year, report, 

" That having deliberated on this interesting sub- 
ject, the Committee are free to propose that the 
Yearly Meeting recommend to our members, to 
embrace every right opening to maintain and exalt 
our righteous testimony against Slavery; and where 
any of our members feel any religious scruples as 
to the use of the products of slave labour, that they 
faithfully attend thereto; and also that the attention 
of Friends be directed to the education and moral 
improvement of the people of colour in their seve- 
ral neighbourhoods." 

In closing, we desire the aid of your spirits, and 
ask your earnest and faithful co-operation in the 
promotion of a cause so deeply interesting to the 
welfare of the human family. 

Signed by direction and on behalf of the Com- 
mittee, by 

John Jackson, Clerk. 



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